A while ago, the Seated App made news in this community because it allowed an additional opportunity to earn rewards on dining out. In fact, it made news due to something I posted in an online group. More on that at the end.
Many Seated referral codes give you $5, but Seated recently made my referral code AMOL14 worth $15 on your first use, TRIPLE the normal amount. You can also use this direct link here.
What is Seated?
Seated is currently in several cities, including New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Boston. If you live in or travel to these cities, Seated is worth looking at.
You can look for available restaurants in each city in the app, and even sort by which restaurants are offering the highest rewards. In some cities, you can find rewards of more than 30% back. I’ve also found that a lot of restaurant I’ve been interested in trying anyway are on the app, whether they be “fancy” dinners, bars, cafés, or casual sit-down places. You can usually find reservations for every day of the week, though you may get more rewards going on an off-peak day or time.
How rewards work
Once you’ve finished your meal, you take a picture of your check and upload it to the Seated App to verify how much you spent. I usually save the photo to my camera roll in case there’s an issue, but I have yet to have an issue with any submissions. You’ll get the Seated credit usually within a day.
Once you have your Seated credit, you can apply it to various rewards in the app, including gift cards to Amazon (that can be used to to buy gifts for motorcycle enthusiasts), Starbucks, Lyft, Target, Apple, and Sephora. The Amazon gift cards are of particular value to me since I shop on the website frequently, including using my Amazon balance to buy other gift cards for other stores and services. There are also “Experience” rewards, where you can save up Seated rewards for private wine tastings and dinners at Michelin star restaurants.
Multiple rewards dips
The best part about the Seated app is that rewards are reliant on snapping a photo of your receipt and verifying how much you spent. It’s not reliant on how you pay for your restaurant bill. That means that you can double-, triple-, or even quadruple-dip your rewards.
I’ll lay out one example: I recently planned a group dinner for 4 at a restaurant named Seven Lamps in Atlanta that just happened to be on the Seated app. It also is on several other networks, including Visa Local Offers (7% Uber cash credit) and MileagePlan Dining (3 Alaska miles per dollar). Our bill for four was $172 ($143 before tip), for which I earned:
- $32 toward gift cards on the Seated App
- $10 toward my Uber cash account
- 516 Alaska miles (which I value at about $8.50)
- 516 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points (which I value at about $7.75) from using my Sapphire Reserve card
Overall, this was about $58.25 back on a $172 bill, or over 33% return. Seated provided for more than half of that.
I could have earned more credit card points with the American Express Gold Card (4x Membership Rewards Points at restaurant) or Citi Prestige (5x Thank You Points), but neither are Visas that would have gotten me the $10 Uber credit.
Taking it to the next level
My original usage of the Seated App was in Chicago back in 2017, when I stayed at the Park Hyatt Chicago and made a Seated reservation at the NoMi restaurant for my Globalist Breakfast. I uploaded the receipt, got a $15 reward, then had the charge taken off my folio at check-out. I cannot verify if this works anymore, but it’s worth opening up the app anytime you’re planning on dining anywhere in the cities the app supports.
Bottom Line
Seated is a great way to find restaurants at which you can earn rewards toward gift cards like Amazon and Lyft in 6 major U.S. cities. The way the app works means you don’t forgo credit card rewards or mileage dining rewards. The only thing I wish Seated had is more cities!
Reminder: the normal referral code earns you $5 on your first dine, but if you use my referral code AMOL14, you’ll earn $15 on your first use. If you’re wondering why, it’s because that tip about the hotel in Chicago and its subsequent posting on several blogs apparently made me one of the top referrers and Seated wanted to thank me for introducing so many people to the app. I get a Seated credit if you dine using my referral code. I like to be transparent. If you use my referral code, thanks!
Download the Seated app here: https://www.seatedapp.io/
